The Integrity of Excellence
Excellence is an expression of integrity.
If integrity is being true to yourself, to your commitments, and to the kind of world you want to help create—then bringing excellence is an essential element.
Excellence honors what we are capable of and committed to. It is a way of bringing ourselves into alignment with—into integrity with—our highest ideals and the impact we want to have on the world around us—whether through leading others, producing something of value, or washing the dishes.
Here are a few ways of standing more often, more strongly, and more pleasurably in the integrity of excellence:
Be generous.
Rather than seeing excellence as a burdensome demand or expectation—whether from yourself or the world around you—see it as an offering. See it as generosity—a form of giving in service of something worthwhile.
Give form to purpose and beauty.
The measure of excellence is the quality with which it serves a purpose; and the degree to which it brings more beauty into our lives. Whether an athletic performance, a medical procedure, or a business presentation—make excellence a process of giving form to purpose and beauty.
Choose your passion.
It’s unlikely you’ll bring the same bar of excellence to everything. So bring it where you’re inspired to—to the people, projects, things, and everyday tasks that matter most. And when your job or spouse demands certain standards of excellence from you, make it a conversation—discuss the kinds of bars you will and won’t set.
Distinguish excellence from perfectionism.
One is a commitment. The other is a compulsion. One is about creating the world we can imagine. The other is about controlling the world (naturally chaotic and complex) we’re afraid of. One is about self-expression, the other is about self-protection (from criticism and judgment).
Pay attention to devotion.
When you notice that something you’re involved in evokes a special sense of devotion to excellence, pay attention. Your naturally arising desire to bring excellence to what you’re doing may be a sign that there is something deep and true in you—perhaps a kind of calling—that wants to be expressed.
For some leaders, this last reference to devotion and calling is how they relate to leadership. Those who find themselves drawn to apply themselves to leadership as a calling, rather than a role they have been promoted to, tend to have a different quality of impact on the people and organization around them.
Questions to ponder, and if you like to write in a journal or on your computer, to write about…
Does excellence for you tend to be more an inspiration or a tyrant?
What are the things in your life that are most important to bring excellence to?
Are you a perfectionist, or committed to excellence? Or neither? Why?
Is there anything in your life that feels like a calling? What and why?
More in the Power Pathways Series…
Bringing Excellence is the second of 12 Power Pathways explored in a series of 13 posts. I call them Power Pathways because they are avenues for expressing our power to be the creators and authors of our lives. I started the series off with an invitation to practice the creative power of radical responsibility (the essence of leadership) through these interrelated pathways. Read the whole series here →
Here is the full wheel of Power Pathways, connected conceptually and practically to radical responsibility and the four disciplines of conscious leadership – inspiration, integrity, courage, and clarity.
